Forever Within The Numbered Days
by littlemissnerdgirl
Summary: ha ha ha in retrospect i didn't even like the fault in our stars that much so what am i doing here?


**A/N This is a one-shot. A Walking Dead rendition of The Fault in our Stars. I have high respect for John Green. :D (And no, TFIOS is not the only book I've read by him.) Clem is 18 so there's nothing inappropriate about this. I put in bold letters the quotes used by Johnny man himself. Not here to steal anybody's writing, no sir.**

 **Tragedy awaits!**

•••

Clementine couldn't tear her gaze away from the teeth marks on her wrist. Her eyes has been glued there for the past hour, ever since she made it back to Parker's Run with Luke and Jane. She tried to wrap her head around the fact that she was bitten. It felt unreal, like she was having some sort of fucked up illusion. People around her were the ones who died, not Clementine herself. She knew it would happen eventually; the thought always tapped in the back of her mind as she desperately tried to ignore it. But now, it was only a matter of time before she would end up like everyone else. Like her friends. Like her parents. Like Lee.

It had happened back at the trailer park when her and Jane were on a mission to rescue Luke, Sarah, and Nick.

They only ended up rescuing one of the three.

Nick was already deceased when they got there, his undead corpse hooked onto a surrounding fence. Jane made Clementine kill him, and it took her three dreadful blows to finally put Nick to rest. Once they made it inside the lodge (the one from which Sarah's screams rang out), Clementine discovered the young girl in denial, patently shaken by her father's death. It didn't matter how much she urged Sarah, she wouldn't move. And when the walkers broke in, Clementine didn't leave like Luke and Jane were telling her to. She stayed to help Sarah, the teenage girl who was far from saving. In spite of all the chaos, she couldn't save Sarah. Hell, she couldn't even save herself if you look at it from an inclusive perspective. Pretty soon Clementine would have to break the news to the rest of the group.

She examined her bite, sleeved pulled up in privacy so no one could see what she was trying so hard to obscure. It didn't even look that bad, really. The blood had dried quickly after it happened. Clementine couldn't believe it was this tiny little bite that marked the difference between life and death.

She peered around the stone to see the group discussing Rebecca's labor, and how they were going to handle it. Kenny was there, thanks to Clementine who talked him into leading the group through this baby stress. She didn't want to imagine the look on his face when Clementine broke the news. He would be so devastated. So...broken. He was already so bent after the pass of Duck and Katjaa, and recently, Sarita. Clementine was the glue keeping him in one piece. She was never too close with Kenny a few years back, not as close as she was with Lee, anyway. But things changed when they rekindled their bond, this time, a lot harder to break.

Luke was there too, looking strong and sure of himself as always. She admired the way he had about him since the very first day they met. There had been this tiny spark of attraction between the two right from the get-go - lingering looks in the others direction, touches that lasted a lot longer than they should have. It was safe to say that Clementine liked him as more than a friend. A lot more. Maybe she even loved him. In the world that they lived in, feelings and emotions were intensified. If you hated someone, then man, you really hated them. She felt this way about Carver and an abundance of other culprits she stumbled across. But it almost felt worse in a way when you loved someone, because you knew it would get you screwed. And Clementine knew there was no hope for her and Luke.

Clementine made her way over to the group, fingers grasping tightly at the end of her sleeves. Truth is, she was mentally prepared for death. There was no event that triggered this strength of character, it was merely something she developed after having spent years of watching the people around her die. What she was really afraid of was coming forward with the news. She knew it would crush them; they all looked at Clementine as a light at the end of a dark tunnel. There was, of course, the option that she could just run off into the woods and shoot herself and be done with it. But that would cause even more problems, and she knew it. The group would need closure, the closest thing you had to salvation these days.

Discussion had simmered once Clementine approached the group. Jane had gone off in another direction, and Kenny was quietly consoling Rebecca.

"Clementine," Luke said, in his sexy southern accent. God, was she ever going to miss that accent. "How do you feel about giving Bonnie and Mike a hand at the museum?"

She scanned the group with doubt, unsure as of how she was going to tell them about what went down at the trailer park. You had to do these things very precisely; Clementine didn't want to stir up trouble and then have to bear through a whole round of the good old accusation game. All she wanted to do was get this off her chest and keep the matter civil.

But civil didn't exist these days, and Clementine knew it, yet she had no further choice except to get it over with before she chickened out completely.

"Actually," she began, "I have something to tell you all."

Jane suddenly stopped in her tracks and padded back to the group, Kenny and Rebecca both looked up with regard, and Bonnie and Mike exchanged glances.

Luke crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it?" he asked. There was a wrinkle in his forehead.

"I..." Clementine fumbled for the right words to say. Everyone circled around her, and she couldn't sworn the earth was spinning. "Back at the trailer park, when I was trying to save Sarah, something happened." She held her breath as she slowly pulled up her sleeve. The bite was there for everyone to see. Clementine didn't have to go on, but she added, in a very quiet, barely audible voice, "I was bit."

A gasp instantly escaped out of Bonnie, and a "Shit" from Mike. The others said nothing as they stated at her wrist with wide eyes. Rebecca looked like she was fighting back tears, but Jane and Luke's expressions both remained neutral. It was hard to know what they were thinking. Clementine didn't have time to examine Kenny because he already stormed past the group and socked his fist into the hard stone wall.

"Are you fucking kidding?!" he shouted. He then turned to Clementine. Although he was furious as hell, she could see the devastation in his eyes. Broken. Just like she thought. "Why did this happen? How could you risk your life for a helpless little kid?"

"You would've done it for me!" Clementine argued, desperate. She watched as he threw his hands over his face, shaking it zealously.

"Clem, why didn't you tell us back at the trailer park?" Luke asked. He looked as defeated as she felt.

"What would you have done? Cut it off right then and there?"

"We could've tried!"

"I wouldn't have been able to make it that long, and you know it."

Jane took a step forward, tugging on her bottom lip. "So...what do you wanna do?"

Clementine knew what this translated to: Do you want to end things now or wait until the last given moment?

"I'm not dead yet," she replied. "Besides, we still have a baby on our hands. I'm not going to be much help lying in a pit somewhere."

"Clem," Rebecca said, resting a hand on her shoulder. She used to hate the woman back when they first met, but they had both grown on each other. It wasn't going to be easy leaving her.

"It's fine, Rebecca," Clementine shook her hand away gently. She examined everyone in the group, feeling nothing but remorse. One little slip and everything and everyone was gone. She knew it damn well.

"Can I talk to Luke for a moment?" she asked. "Alone?"

They all nodded in response -all except for Kenny, who looked like he was about to burst into flames. Clementine gestured to Luke and he followed her away from everyone else. She felt like shit, but she was also relieved that the cat was out of the bag.

"Listen," she began, "I need you to lead this group. Kenny's not stable, and I don't know if I can trust Jane to stick around. You're the only one who's capable of being a leader."

"Clementine...I don't think..."

"I know this is going to be a lot trickier than it was back at the cabin, but you can do it, I know you can."

"Clem..."

"You're strong, and you're reliable, and I'm so glad to have met you." She decided to leave out attractive. Her feelings for him didn't matter.

"I can't lead this group."

She stared at Luke, and suddenly Clem realized that he didn't look like himself. His skin was pale, eyes sunken, posture a little poor. It reminded her of how Lee looked when he was dying in that jewelry store back in Savannah.

"W-why not?" she stammered.

And then, exactly what she feared was happening, happened. Luke got down on one knee and rolled up the pant of his left leg, revealing a patch of tumid flesh and reddened teeth marks.

"No..." Clementine said, or maybe she didn't. It was all a blur to her.

"It happened back at Howe's, when we were trudging through that swarm." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shoud'nt've waited. I should've told you sooner."

When the tears began to well in her eyes, Clem didn't fight them. She broke down right in front of him, not caring how pathetic she looked.

 **"It's not fair,"** she **said. "It's just so goddamned unfair."**

" **The world," he said, "is not a wish-granting factory."**

Damn right it wasn't.

Luke looked like he was about to cry too, but instead, he wrapped Clementine in his arms and whispered "I'm so sorry" so many times she lost count.

When they pulled apart, she looked up at him with her damp wolf eyes and appreciated every little thing about him: how his brows changed shape based on his expression, how his hair sat on his head, untidy and unkempt, how his eyes gazed at Clementine with admiration.

Wait. _Admiration?_

 **"Would it be absolutely ludicrous if we just made out right now?"**

Clementine did a double take. Did he just say what she thought he said? "What?" was all she managed to come up with.

Before either of them could say anything else, Luke placed his hands on Clementine's face and pulled her into a deep kiss. It took her a second to process what was happening. Only moments ago they confessed to each other that they were bitten, and now they were making out like they were long-time suitors? But Clementine wasn't complaining about the last part. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him back, eagerly and passionately.

They parted after a minute or so, and Clementine tried to make sense of what just happened. Not only did she just kiss Luke, but _he_ had kissed her. He was even the one who initiated it by pulling her in.

"I wanted to do that for such a long time," Luke said. His lips were more swollen than they were before from kissing.

Clementine looked down, chiding herself for ruining the moment, but she had to ask: "How much time do you have left?"

"Not much, sadly."

She nodded, irritated that she might cry again. She needed to be strong for what little time she had, not some overly emotional train wreck.

"Do you want me to tell everyone, or...?" She didn't want to be the one to come forward with bad news for the second time that day, but she knew it was something worth asking. People help the people, and all.

"No, you shouldn't have to do that twice. Besides, this is my **hamartia**. I have to fend for it."

Clementine raised her eyebrow at the word "hamartia."

"A fatal flaw," Luke added. "You know, all of us have one, bitten or not. It's whatever we have in our brain that makes us turn. That's the hamartia we all share."

Clementine nodded in understanding. Something about the human brain was more vulnerable than any other species. You didn't see fish turn into walkers. Or dogs. Or birds. Or anything. It was just humans that had this fatal flaw.

"We should probably go talk to the others," she said even though all she wanted to do was make out with Luke some more.

"Yeah," he said, running his fingers through his hair.

Clementine (reluctantly) and Luke walked back to the group which was one member short because Jane left to go check out the building on the river. Kenny looked like he cooled down a little bit, but he was still a broken branch.

Rebecca's lips curled upwards when she noticed Clem. "I saw you two kissing," she said. It was meant to come off as a tease, but she looked at Clementine depressingly when she said it.

Clem scratched the back of her neck, deciding not to get into it when there were more important things to discuss. She glanced at Luke, expectantly.

"Um, so there's something y'all need to know," he said as he shot her a look of apprehension. "Clementine's not the only one bit."

"Fuck! You too?" Kenny yelled. Once again, he was a volcano of anger, erupting with his colorful vocabulary and wildfire eyes.

"How did this happen?" Bonnie asked. Clementine took note of how Bonnie looked more pained by Luke's news than hers. She didn't dwell on it though.

"Back at Howe's. I was keeping my eye on Sarah, and then, Jesus, the fucker just caught me off guard."

"How come that girl's the root to every one of our problems?" Kenny spat.

"It's not her fault," Clementine denied. "She didn't _make_ us look out for her."

"This isn't even about Sarah, Sarah's dead," Luke said. As if they all needed reminding. "This is about the world we live in. People die no matter what. This is happening, like it or not."

Rebecca began to cry, and Clementine put an arm around her for comfort. Poor Bec, the last of the cabin group.

"How good are you for time?" Mike asked with sympathy.

Luke looked down. "I'm afraid the hour glass has almost run out of sand." And don't believe it didn't look that way. Luke appeared as if he had recently taken a stroll through Hell. He had, in a way.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Luke went off with Rebecca so they could have their final goodbyes. Clementine sat alone with Kenny as Bonnie and Mike made their way to the museum. They already said they're goodbyes. Bonnie even cried. Clem felt nostalgic and guilty and downhearted and every terrible emotion all at once. It was shitty enough that she was dying, leaving all her friends, but Luke too? Why did things have to be this way?

Kenny sighed, looking at Clementine with sad eyes. There was so much they both wanted to say to each other, but on the other hand, they already knew what the other was thinking. After all this time, after having been on a roller coaster, Kenny and Clem, Clem and Kenny, would be nothing but a one sided relationship.

"I'm really gonna miss you, ya know that?" he said with a sad smile. "I wish there was something I could've done."

"You don't have to miss me yet," she replied. Luke's hourglass might've been close to empty, but she could still hold on for a few more hours.

"I know," he said. "And I'm sorry about Luke. Him and I, we might've butted heads a bit, but he was a good man. You guys would've made a great team."

Kenny was right, but also wrong in a way. It's not that Clem and Luke _would've_ made a great team, they _were_ a great team. They were a great team since the very beginning. Trudging through the forest. Taking out walkers on the bridge. Meeting up in the comic book shop. They had this amazing connection right off the bat.

"Yeah," Clementine said. "It sucks."

After Luke was finished saying goodbye to Rebecca, Kenny had fetched Jane, and her and Luke exchanged a couple words. Nothing overly emotional, but still tough.

Clementine watched as Kenny and Luke said goodbye, an aching in the pit of her stomach. Here were her two favorite guys she had left. The thing about dying is that it's not yourself you're thinking about, it's the people around you.

Luke grabbed Clementine's hand and led her to where they were earlier. He pressed his lips to hers once again, and they kissed each other long and tenderly.

Luke pulled away - only by a couple inches - and whispered, "If it wasn't obvious enough, I'm in love with you."

"Don't say that," Clementine said, "You're going to make me cry again."

He kissed her again, this one was light and only last a second. He was so weak and fragile looking at this point, Clementine didn't know how he could keep on his feet.

And he didn't, not for much longer.

Luke slowly sat on the ground, slumped against the stone wall. She sat with him. This felt like mere de ja vu to Clementine. She recognized the familiar longing feeling she felt for Lee.

"You wanna know something?" Luke said, smiling slightly.

She nodded. "Sure."

"That time when I found you in the shed was the moment I fell in love with you."

"It was not!"

"It was. Don't doubt it for a second," he said grinning. "You had that hammer in your hand and then you pulled it out the walker's head all badass, and then you turned to us and looked up with those amazing eyes and said, 'I'm still. Not. Bitten.'"

Clementine laughed, remembering the night they first met. It might have been a lousy day for the most part, but she would do anything to relive it.

"And need to mention, you sewed your own arm up. I can't fathom how you managed to do that."

"It was do or die."

"That's one of the things I love about you. You do was has to be done, no matter how hard it is. You're strong like that." He looked at her with endearment.

Clementine blushed, wishing they could keep having this conversation.

"You know what you have to do next?" Luke said, and she turned to him. She couldn't hold off for much longer. "It's going to be hard. I know it damn well. But you can do it. You can always do it."

She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. "Can't you just..." She trailed off, ashamed of what she was about to say. She couldn't ask him to end things for her because a) she knew how much it sucked to be in that position, and b) she still had to look out for Rebecca and the group for whatever time she had left.

"Clem, you have to do this."

Tears clouded her vision. So this was it.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Clementine rose from the ground and pulled the gun out from under her belt. One second Luke would be alive, and the next, he wouldn't. It was like switching off a light. Or blowing out a flame. Well Luke was a light, and he was a flame, and he was every beautiful thing that only lasted for so long.

Clementine steadied the gun in her hand. "I'll catch up with you soon," she said.

And then she pulled the trigger.

•••

 **A/N Okay, so I hope that was good. I know I don't compare to John Green, but leave a review if you enjoyed. Also, let me know if you made some connections to TFIOS. I put a lot in there.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **peeeace**


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